I do not own any of the music, products or movies mentioned in this fic and as much as I wish I did.........I don't own GhostWhisperer or any of its characters, I do however, own those characters and storylines which appear in this fanfic, but not in the show. No copyright infringement intended!
The two weeks had been hell. Everything I did was carefully measured, not wanting to provoke the monster but at the same time uncertain of what the triggers might be. I was trying to help him, to show him that I loved him and always would, but it was getting harder. I was scared. Love is giving someone the power to hurt you, to destroy you...and then trusting them not to. That trust was dissipating.
"Hey Charlie, I was just calling to check on Mel, see how the ultrasound went" Delia had said excitedly, "Melinda's fine now, but she uh...she fell down the stairs" Charlie lied "oh my God! Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" she had asked worriedly, Charlie frowned "they're fine" he replied shortly. Melinda had been laying on the bed through the conversation, her entire body aching, the bruises had darkened over the day and the pain had worsened, tears ran slowly down her cheeks while she had listened to Charlie spit lies out at her best friend. He held her hand tightly in his own and rubbed comforting circles on the back of it. "Oh...okay...well, can I talk to her?" Delia asked, sounding put out, Charlie sighed "I'm sorry Delia, now's just not really a good time, but I'll let Melinda know you called, okay?" "um...sure, I guess, I-" she didn't even have time to finish before Charlie hung up the phone. "It's for the best" he whispered.
That had been two weeks ago, Delia had gotten incredibly worried, Melinda hadn't been into the store at all and she told Delia to take a few days off with pay, she had called Melinda seven times since and every time she got the same answer from Charlie- "now's not a good time". She had had enough, Delia turned her key in the ignition and took a deep breath, a large container of 'get well' soup on the seat beside her, she was going to see her best friend and she'd be damned if she'd let Charlie stop her.
Melinda was sitting at her dressing table, tears flowed freely over her cheeks as she stared into the reflection of her cold lifeless eyes, Rosie had just left after an hour of pleading with her to leave Charlie, she showed her flashes of her own abuse and assaulted her with memories of the pain. This had been going on since the first hospital appointment, every day she begged Melinda to do the right thing, to leave him, to keep her baby safe. And every day Melinda held her hands over her ears and cried until Rosie left. She couldn't take it anymore, the fear and torment of uncertainty, wondering each day if it would be her last, would this be the day that Charlie snapped?
She loved him more than she loved life itself and she believed in him, but the fear was filling her inside, slowly like sand through an hourglass timer. She was unsure of him now, fearful of making a wrong move, constantly thinking ahead and contemplating possible consequences of even the most trivial actions. "Are you okay?" Charlie asked appearing in the doorway, she nodded quickly to appease him but he wasn't easily fooled. Without any hesitation or complication he pulled Melinda backwards from her seat and carried her over to the bed, she didn't resist as he lay her down and then lay on his side tracing patterns on her stomach. "Why are you so sad honey?" he asked gently, she turned away from him as the tears rolled faster but he held her chin and brought her face back to his "don't hide it from me Melinda, I know you're hurting and I want to help...let me be here for you" he whispered. Melinda closed her eyes against the tears "I can't" she whispered, the movement of his fingers faltered, "is it because of me?" he asked, she shook her head and he raised an eyebrow "Melinda, it's okay that I'm the one who made you sad, okay? You don't have to hide that from me sweetheart" he said softly kissing her forehead. "Are we gonna be okay Charlie?" she whispered, taking a watery breath she opened her eyes and gazed up into his "baby" he whispered, the pain in that one word told Melinda that he knew exactly what she had been thinking about. Charlie gently brushed her hair from her face and stared at her bruised up cheeks "I love you Mel, and I want what's best for you and our baby, I know I'm not perfect, I can be an awful person sometimes, a monster. But I swear to you, I'm going to love you for the rest of my life, and this baby...I would do anything to keep it safe, I can't say that everything's always going to be the way we want it, but I can say that yes, we're going to be okay" he said softly. Melinda reached up to cup his cheek and he leaned into her touch "I love you too" she whispered.
"Do you wanna get out of here for a while?" Charlie asked, Melinda smiled "what did you have in mind?" she replied as she ran her thumb over his lips, Charlie thought about it for a second "how about tonight we go see a movie? Then we could go for dinner...you need to eat" he offered, Melinda had been told at the second appointment that she had only gained a measly 2lbs and was not on track at all, although the anti-nausea drugs were working she just didn't seem to be eating the right things to help her gain weight. The hand that she had on his cheek moved to the back of his neck and she pulled him down to her. Charlie held onto her waist and pulled her flush against his body "you like it?" he asked, she smiled "I like it".
At 1pm the two of them were still lounging around on the bed, Melinda had fallen asleep after a while of Charlie holding her and he was quite content to just watch her sleep. Her peaceful face, though marred by his own hands, held no sign of distress, no sign of the pain that he knew he had caused, and while he rejoiced in the fact that she looked happy, the monster was restless.
The doorbell rang and Charlie watched Melinda's face carefully to check if it had disturbed her or not, her eyelids fluttered and he immediately wanted to go slam the door in whoever's face for waking his love. "Sshhh, it's okay honey, go back to sleep" he whispered, Melinda nodded and he untangled her from his arms to run downstairs, he opened the door with a frown on his face and was surprised to find Delia at the door "hey Charlie" she said politely, he glanced back into the house then met her eyes again "Delia..uh..what are you doing here?" he asked trying not to sound rude, she flinched slightly at his harsh words "I...Melinda's my best friend. You said she was hurt and I haven't been able to see her for a couple of weeks so..well, I figured I'd stop by on my way home, I brought some soup" she said holding out the container with a smile, Charlie took it and returned her smile "thanks, that's really nice of you, but...now's not really the best time" he said, she frowned "is Mel okay?" she asked, he glanced back inside again, his eyes were shifty and Delia could feel that something wasn't right "she's fine" he said shortly.
Delia's worried eyes danced across his face then flickered behind him as she saw something "Mel?" she asked, her voice was worried and confused at the same time, she could just about make out Melinda's face at the top of the stairs and from what she could see it looked as though her face was bruised badly. Charlie shifted uncomfortably and Melinda's eyes widened "uh..honey, why don't you go back upstairs and lie down?" he suggested, although at first his voice seemed calm, Delia thought it sounded very measured, as though he was deliberately trying to appear normal "no..Melinda? are you okay?" she asked, Melinda's eyes were frightened as she looked at Charlie "I'm okay Delia, thanks for stopping by, it's really sweet of you but...I just need to rest right now..." she said, her eyes still fixed on Charlie, Delia's skin was prickling, the hair on her arms and the back of her neck standing on end, something was wrong here. Very wrong.
Melinda hurried out of sight and Charlie rubbed the stubble on his chin, he plastered a smile on his face "well thanks so much for stopping by Delia, I'll make sure Melinda eats this all up" he said lifting the container slightly. "Okay...well uh, tell Melinda to...well, she can call me if she needs anything" she stuttered. Charlie nodded and swung the door shut leaving her standing on the porch utterly confused, she climbed into her car and drove off with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Please leave a review and let me know what you thought x I know this chapter wasn't particularly interesting but it's just one of a few fillers until my next plot twist MUHAHAHA x love you all and I hope you're happy and well, I promise you some Jim in the next chapter x.